Giefer back in jail, and DHS has some 'splainin' to do

Jeremy Giefer, the sex offender pardoned by Governor Tim Pawlenty, is back in jail for violating his probation.

​Jeremy Giefer spent the weekend back in jail, after being arrested on Friday for violating the terms of his release.

He had been released last month on $250,000 bail after being charged with incest and 11 counts of criminal sexual behavior for allegedly raping his daughter hundreds of times over the past seven years

The cops clearly aren't taking their eyes off Giefer since news of his molestation charges broke. It's the kind of scrutiny that was missing when the Board of Pardons cleared his record in 2008.

City Pages

Jeremy Giefer was booked into jail again Friday for violating the terms of his probation.

How hard did the Board of Pardons look at Giefer's request before greenlighting it?

Well, they didn't bat an eyelash when a convicted sex offender wanted his pardon so his wife could open a childcare center in his home.

Nor did the Board appear to know that Giefer had had recent run-ins with the law that he made no mention of in his pardon application.

In fact, here's how thorough the Board of Pardons was: they didn't even know how to spell Giefer's name when they sent their annual report to the legislature.

Giefer, remember, had his previous record as a sex offender cleared by the state Board of Pardons -- a three member panel chaired by Pawlenty that also included Attorney General Lori Swanson and then-Chief Justice Eric Magnuson. All three voted to give Giefer his pardon, but it is Pawlenty, thought to be eyeing a presidential run as a tough-on-crime candidate, who has taken most of the heat for the decision.

A 2008 Blue Earth County newsletter congratulated Susan Giefer on her new child care center.

Meanwhile, it remains unclear what the Department of Human Services was doing during the two weeks between Giefer's arrest and their decision to finally close the childcare center his wife runs next door to the Giefer's house.

Beth Voigt, a DHS spokeswoman, told City Pages the department just can't answer that question right now:

"The department cannot provide any further explanation at this time because the additional information you are requesting is part of an active investigation, and therefore confidential."

By statute, license investigations must be resolved within 90 days of their start, or within 90 days of any appeal made by the licensee under investigation.

Susan Giefer's daycare center is right next door to the house she lives in with her sex offender husband who statutory raped and impregnated her at 14.

Voigt says the state Department of Human Services didn't learn of the charges against Giefer from the county officials until later. Under Minnesota's agency structure, the Blue Earth County Department of Human Services is overseen by the state but administered by the county.